Participation and citizen science with young people – the u3Green participation framework

Abstract

Discussions about the quality of life in cities also emphasize urban green. This is underlined by increasing urbanization and climate change impacts and it requires the appropriate implementation of urban green.  Essential to this is a fundamental understanding of how different social groups use urban green and what requirements they place on it. Young people are a particularly challenging social group. This refers to their needs for urban green, which are different from those of adults, and the difficulties in getting them to participate and share their needs. However, which forms of participation are most suitable for young people? What youth-specific results regarding urban green can be achieved through appropriate participation? These questions are being investigated in the project u3Green, whose aim is to develop a youth-centered data collection app, analyze the data collected using this app, and communicate the analysis results to stakeholders. In u3Green, a participation model was developed that combines different participation formats and methods, and thus provides new insights into the use and needs of young people regarding urban green.

Keywords

• geo-participation
• child-friendly cities
• the yout